‘Modern Family’ Cast Remembers Their Favorite Episodes

Introduction

The cast of “Modern Family” reminisce over those sweet, surreal moments when their reel-life family moments reflected their real-life ones and they knew the show was doing something special.

ABC

Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1

Ed O’Neill’s Pick

“I read it, and I read it again. I just thought it was so good — funny and clever. My manager said, ‘too late’ because they were already out to Craig T. Nelson, but a week later they came back to me. My manager said, ‘You’re not the star and they’re not going to pay you your quote!’ I said, ‘Just make the deal. I like the ensemble part of it, and in success we’ll get even later.’ I was really confident that this was a hit show.”

ABC

Run for Your Wife

Season 1, Episode 6

Ty Burrell’s Pick

“Most of my parallels have come from the Mitch and Cam stories, as our daughters are young. Worrying about locking the baby in the car, bumping the baby’s head, trying to get into schools in this day and age, etc. Generally, Mitch, Cam, and Lily, are our analogues in the show. I’m usually Lily.”

Sofia Vergara’s Pick

“One of my favorite scenes that always makes me laugh is when Cam panicked because Lily got locked in the car and he wanted to break the window with a garbage can.”

ABC

Fizbo

Season 1, Episode 9

Eric Stonestreet’s Pick

“The day I got the script called ‘Fizbo’ still sticks out as the most memorable, crazy, meaningful, full circle moment for me as an actor. All I wanted to be growing up was a clown in the circus. My dad named me Fizbo when I was a kid. I called my mom and dad with a tear in my eye that day and said, ‘You aren’t gonna believe this.’”

ABC

Halloween

Season 2, Episode 6

Sarah Hyland’s Pick

“My favorite moment of the show will forever be our first Halloween episode. Between Sofia’s American accent saying, ‘Welcome to your nightmare ho ho ho’ (which by the way was written ‘Welcome to your nightmare ha ha ha’) and Ed’s face in the gargoyle mask, I could not stop laughing. I’m not a person that breaks easily and I couldn’t hold it together that entire day.”

ABC

Caught in the Act

Season 2, Episode 13

Julie Bowen’s Pick

“The first real scene with the three Dunphy kids and no ‘adult’ cast when the kids catch Claire and Phil, well, ‘in the act’ [was really special]. The three of them are sitting on a bench somewhere trying to process the information, but the characters are all at different developmental levels. Each is talking to the others in the only way they can. That was great character development in the writing and tricky stuff for a group of actors, especially young ones. It was the first time I realized those three were unbelievable.”

ABC

Baby on Board

Season 3, Episode 24

Rico Rodriguez’s Pick

“One of my favorite moments from the show was in the season three finale when Gloria announced she was pregnant. It was a total surprise storyline, not just for the fans watching at home, but even for the cast and crew. When we read the table read script and filmed the episode all week, there was no mention of Gloria being pregnant. But what I later found out is they got a small crew together, and only our writers, the director of the episode, Steve Levitan and Sofia knew they would be adding that scene in. I was genuinely shocked and excited when I was watching the episode at home with my family.”

ABC

Season 5

Ariel Winter’s Pick

“The moment when Alex was applying for college really sat with me because I was just about to apply for college myself. It actually helped me with the entire process to go through it with Alex first.”

ABC

The Wedding

Season 5, Episode 23

Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Pick

“I had just gotten married to my [real] husband, Justin Mikita. A few weeks later I was getting engaged to my other husband, Eric Stonestreet. Justin and I had been very active in the fight towards full federal marriage equality and Justin specifically was working on the Prop. 8 case to overturn the marriage ban in California. There is a scene where my character, Mitchell, is on his computer watching actual news footage of the celebration in Washington, D.C., after Prop. 8 was overturned. In the footage I am watching is my husband, Justin.”

ABC

The Wedding Part 2

Season 5, Episode 24

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons’ Pick

“Mitch and Cam’s wedding episodes are very special. I didn’t know when I was doing it but now that I’m older I know how special and important it is to show a gay wedding on a TV show because I think everyone should have the same rights and equality.”

ABC

Alone Time

Season 8, Episode 21

Jeremy Maguire’s Pick

“There was an episode about wearing a cape. I love my capes. In fact, I wore a cape during my screen test with Ed.”

ABC

Season 9

Nolan Gould’s Pick

“I was so young when the show started that I don’t remember when I first realized it was special. But after almost a decade, I still find myself occasionally realizing how special the show is. That’s such a great feeling when you find another thing to appreciate after all this time. One such moment happened after the Emmys this year. It’s such an honor to even be nominated, but I was trying to come to terms with being on a show that’s further along in its run and isn’t gaining as much recognition as it used to. Then I realized that no matter what happens in the future, the strides ‘Modern Family’ have made can never be undone.”